The Devine Doughnut Shop(31)

“He’s a con man, and that’s a first cousin to the devil,” Grace said. “Jesus would have kicked him a few times if he’d been here.”

Sarah slapped the steering wheel. “I’m not moving. He’s good at manipulation—let him work that vehicle around to get out of here. I hope they miss their plane.”

“Looks like that witch decided to travel in her dirty dress and her messy hair after all.” Macy pointed at the SUV; Darla Jo was already inside, and Neal was limping toward the driver’s side.

“I bet they’re not even going to an island.” Grace frowned. “They’re probably off to another town to swindle someone else.”

“Maybe so,” Macy whispered, “but at least they didn’t take us to the cleaners on the way. I can’t believe I was that gullible. From now on, if I even look at another man, you two have permission to put me in a convent.”

“Our faith doesn’t have convents,” Grace reminded her.

“Then I’ll use my money to start a monastery for sorry suckers like Neal—or Edward, or whatever the reincarnated devil is calling himself. So they can’t hurt anyone else.” Macy watched Neal expertly get the SUV out of the tight spot. Darla Jo blew her a kiss as they drove away. “That witch! I’d like to slap that smile right off her face. Why did she come into the shop today, anyway?”

“It was all part of the con,” Grace said. “Edward was leaving with her. Neal was in trouble and needed a lot of money. You would panic to get him out of a bind and give him your bank numbers so he could wipe you out as they drove out of town.”

“And they would laugh and laugh about it all the way to the airport,” Macy said. “I need ice cream, and I need to settle down before I die of a heart attack at thirty-two years old. Take me home. I’ll call Beezy, and she can meet us there.”

“Are you going to weep and wail and lay around in your pajamas for weeks?” Grace asked.

“No, I’m going to call the sheriff and see if there’s anything that can be done,” Macy answered. “But if folks ask what happened, please back me up when I tell them that I broke up with Neal because he was seeing another woman. That’s the truth—at least, part of it.”

Grace patted her again. “No one needs to know any more than that, but I don’t think there’s a thing that can be done without solid evidence. Still, if Sheriff Mason knows about it, he might be able to put out an alert of some kind to keep them from conning someone else in the future.”

Macy held her head high and kept a stiff upper lip, but inside, her heart felt as if it had been shattered into a thousand pieces.





Chapter Seven


All those old feelings of betrayal and hopelessness that she had experienced when Justin left her swept over Grace again on the way home that day. Macy’s pain, her anger, her attempt to deal with it and still keep working with the public, the betrayal and guilt that Sarah felt . . . Grace understood all of it.

“I guess we can all three sympathize with each other,” she whispered.

“One of our hymns says something about wanting to feel the pain my neighbors feel so I can sympathize with them,” Macy said.

Sarah made the left-hand turn into the doughnut shop’s parking lot and then followed the path back to the house. “Not me. I don’t hear a hymn in my head right now. What I hear is that Miranda Lambert song about kerosene, where the lyrics say that she’s been burned for the last time.”

“This is my first, last, and never-again burning time,” Macy said as she called Beezy. “We need you to come to the house, Beezy. Don’t drive fast, but it’s an emergency.”

“Are we going to tell the girls?” Grace asked.

Macy dropped her phone in her purse and opened the truck door. “Yes, we’re going to tell them. They are old enough to learn that not everyone can be trusted.”

“Especially Audrey,” Grace agreed. The way her daughter trusted those two friends of hers was downright scary.

Sarah led the way from the truck to the house. Audrey looked up from the sofa where she and Raelene were working on algebra, caught her mother’s eye, and then saw Macy. She jumped up like she’d sat on an electric wire.

“What happened to you? Did y’all have a wreck or . . .” Audrey ran across the room and draped an arm around Macy’s shoulders.

“I’ll tell you all about it as soon as Beezy gets here,” Macy answered.

“Just answer one question.” Raelene laid the laptop on the coffee table. “Do we need to take you to the emergency room?”

“Lord have mercy!” Macy snapped. “Do I look that bad?”

Audrey turned Macy around so she could see her reflection in the mirror in the small foyer. “You tell us.”

“Sweet Lord!” Macy shook off Audrey’s arm and began picking blades of grass and leaves from her hair.

“You should see Darla Jo and Neal,” Grace said. “They both look and feel a lot worse—and believe me, I didn’t know Macy had it in her.”

“You’ve been in a fight?” Raelene’s eyes widened as big as saucers.

Macy gave up on her hair and headed to the kitchen. “I have, and I won, but I don’t feel like I did.”